


Repeat

by CrashStack, rainb0we



Series: Fics for Rainb0we! [3]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Angst, Banister (Bonnie), Barkley (Withered Bonnie), Blood, Character Death, Chiquita (Chica), Corina (Withered Chica), Faust (Freddy Fazbear), Finnian (Foxy), Frazier (Withered Foxy), Gen, Gift Fic, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Mutilation, Near Death Experiences, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Wade (Withered Freddy)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 00:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22047175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrashStack/pseuds/CrashStack, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainb0we/pseuds/rainb0we
Summary: An attack on Banister leaves Wade trying to hold himself together.
Series: Fics for Rainb0we! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1526105
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainb0we](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainb0we/gifts).



> AKA Banister Fucking Dies
> 
> Something I wrote for B0we while shitposting. We were talking about how Banister got his scar and this came up, so I had to write it because y'all know me lol.

_“Faust, sweetheart, calm down! I can’t understand what you’re saying, just take a deep breath.”_

_“Banister’s dead!”_

The phone may have broken after Wade dropped it, but he was too busy shaking Frazier awake to care.

It was well after midnight, but not early enough for any sight of the sun. The chill of the night air barely affected any of the four as they ran down the street towards the neighboring pizzeria. No one was on the roads so late, and that was the only thing Wade was noticing and thankful for past the growing panic.

When they got up to the building, they could hear the screaming even from outside. Screaming. Faust screaming. Chiquita screaming. Something else screaming. Too much of it, too much terror and fear. It had Wade’s heart pounding hard enough to where he thought it would burst.

The tattered curtains of the Cove should have alerted them to what was going on. They went down the first hall.

Finnian had blood all over him. His pristine and frilly clothes were soaked in red, bits of flesh flecked across his fur. His mismatched teeth, once pearly white, were coated in blood, an intestine caught on the sharp canines as they snapped. The dull, sunny eyes were glazed with blind rage. He was practically roaring, the sound loud and feral like a rabid howl. He looked like a wild animal, knocked on all fours with his hook digging into the floor tiles hard enough to crack them. Chiquita had blood on her apron, blood on her soft feathers. She was on Finnian’s back, her pitiful size and weight doing nothing but making him angrier as he struggled to get up. Her fingers were knotted in his fur, pulling tightly like she was pulling the reins on a wild horse.

“Leave it, just leave it!” she was screaming.

It. ‘It’ was what was left of the guard. It didn’t even look like a human anymore. The face was gone, just a mess of muscle and bones. Its chest had been clawed open, ribs curved and snapped off like a broken cage, the skin on the stomach sagging with the organs strewn across the floor.

“Holy fuck!” Barkley screeched. He sounded like he was going to faint.

Wade was shoved aside by Chica, because there was no way Corina would be so bullheaded to charge a wild animal, the towering chicken bypassing Faust as they screamed and wailed and Banister’s still body to give a swift kick to Finnian’s side. Chiquita leapt off of him, sputtering and grabbing at Corina’s leg as the other advanced on Finnian.

“Someone with a hand get over here and help me!” Chica shouted. Her eyes darted to Chiquita. “Get something to get over his mouth before he rips someone else apart!”

The small chicken scrambled past her and up the hall. Finnian bit at Chica's leg, gnashing his teeth and anything caught in it. Bonnie was already across the room, Wade had heard the rabbit say something, getting around Finnian before dropping to his knees to pin the fox’s head to the ground. He leaned forward and put all his weight on his grip, Chica keeping Finnian down by his middle.

The ax was stuck in Banister’s face. It cut through the right side of his face, the mauve fur and metal splitting under the sharp pressure. The glass of his eyeball was shattered, bits filling what was left of the socket. His mouth hung open, the top of his jaw having split under the attack. All but one tooth was spared, the very back tooth broken in two like an uneven fissure. His left eye was half-lidded, the raspberry iris empty of spark and life.

He wasn’t moving.

_"He's not moving. Wade, he's not moving hesnotmoving-!_

Frazier was by Faust. He was saying something, trying to steer them from Banister’s body towards the door while Bonnie and Chica kept Finnian pinned. Faust was sobbing, tears streaking down the fluffy cheeks and darkening the gentle colors. Frazier just kept trying to get the poor thing to move, to look away, finally just hauling an arm around their body and yanking them away as he used his body to shield their eyes.

It was all just white noise to Wade.

Faust was clinging to the roughened fur, stumbling with Frazier’s steps. The soft blues were drowning in tears, their shoulders shaking and chest heaving. “Save him, dad,” they sobbed. “Please. Please, I know you hate him, but please save him. Please, daddy, please.”

Wade didn’t answer them. “Get Katie to the stage,” he said flatly.

Frazier gave him a quick glance, but focused again on Faust. “Come on, sweethear’, back ta the stage wit’ ye.”

Wade ducked under the doorframe once Frazier got Faust to leave.

Banister hadn’t even twitched in the minutes Wade had been staring. Finnian’s snarling and the shouting were background noises. There wasn’t any sound. No screaming, no yelling, no snarling; nothing.

_Burning pain. It burns, it burns, it burns._

_"WadehesdeadhesdeadWadeWade-!"_

Wade had grabbed the handle of the ax at one point. The wood was smooth under his fingers, but rough and coarse beneath the sleek exterior. It must have jostled Banister’s head, it must have _musthavetakenoutFoxyFrazierseye_ , but the rabbit wasn’t moving. The left eye was still empty and unfocused, staring at nothing. There still wasn’t any spark there, no life _theirlivesweregonesnuffedout_ , but there had to be something there. Something could be brought back; something, anything.

Anything for his little pumpkin.

_"LittlesislittlesisgottasavebunnyWadeWadeImscared-!"_

Wade took in a shaky breath, his grip tightening on the handle. One. Two. Three.

_It burned. It felt like their face was on fire, their eye shattered under the intense heat of the shooting flame. The room was spinning. They didn’t know where they were, they just knew everything hurt and everyone was still and..._

The ax was pulled out with a hearty tug. The sound of metal scratching against metal made Wade’s ears twitch.

Banister jerked awake with a sharp gasp. Blind panic consumed the raspberry iris, spreading to the rest of his face like a plague. His lower jaw tried to move, he tried to speak, but nothing but rasping gasps escaped. His hands were struggling to grasp at something, his ears twitching spastically like the wings on a sickly insect. The glass in his socket was glistening under the light of the office, a macabre container of party glitter.

Despite his strength, it felt like Wade was holding the weight of the world in his hands. He wasted no time in throwing it aside, the rough slide of the handle making his hand itch and his stomach twist even further. He moved to Banister’s side, dropping carefully onto his knees.

“Banister,” he said. Bonnie and Barkley’s name nearly slipped past instead. “I’m going to move you to the backroom. Can you work with me there?”

Banister wasn’t even looking at him. His eye was still darting around, still blind and frightened.

_...so scared, didn’t know what was happening. Nobody was moving, nobody was speaking. The screaming had stopped, but it was still there. They were shaking, their loosened eye clinking softly in the socket. They didn’t know where to look or what to do. Everything hurt, it hurt, it hurts…_

“Banister,” he repeated, more firmly this time. The small boom of his voice had the rolling eye fixating on him. It had Wade shiver _scaredsoscaredsocoldithurtssobadmakeitstop_ , but he was sure Banister didn’t notice past the pain. “Focus on me, okay? Just pay attention to me. That’s all I’m asking here, you can do that.”

“Y-yes.” It was a quiet rasp, raw with fear.

“Good. I’m going to pick you up and take you to the backroom. Can you handle the move?” Wade wasn’t sure how well he could work on the floor and he certainly wasn’t sure if he could even leave Banister lying on the floor _alonetheyhadeachothercoldeveryoneisemptydead_ but he was positive that the move would be incredibly painful awake.

A moment of near silent rasping. Then, “Yeah,” Banister answered. He was shaking faintly, had been ever since he woke up. “C-can do that.”

It was a careful process. Banister whimpered at any little movement, his sight becoming more distant with each twitch, but Wade ignored it as he lifted the rabbit up. He positioned Banister’s head on his chest, making sure he had at least some fixation. He wasn’t sure he could handle the inevitable screaming that would come with a mere loll of the head.

“W-who’s screaming?” Banister blurted. “Who…?”

Wade could hear it now that it was pointed out. He could hear Faust’s crying, Frazier’s rough voice trying to keep them calm, Barkley and Corina talking to Finnian in the opposite hallway in what sounded to be in soothing tones. It was all deafening to Wade, too much, and his ears folded down in some attempt to block out most of the sounds.

“No one is now,” Wade answered. Freddy was eerily quiet inside of him. He ducked under the doorway again, careful with maneuvering Banister out of the door, and made his way down the hallway. “No one.”

Faust was sobbing into Frazier’s chest, clinging to the baggy hoodie and hiding their face. Frazier looked between wanting to be anywhere but there but also concerned enough to stay, gingerly patting the bear’s back while he murmured something one in a while. A panicked glance from the grizzled fox had Wade moving a touch faster, but still slow enough where Banister wouldn’t start up again.

The backdoor was heavy enough to shut behind Wade with the amount of force he put into opening it. The table in the center of the room was clear, and Wade wasted no time in getting Banister next to it.

“I’m going to set you down,” he said slowly. He needed Banister to register the words and to show that he had. “Ready?”

A small sound, but it didn’t sound like a no.

The second Banister’s head touched the table, he sounded like he was saying no. The slight pressure must have been too much, triggered some more burning. It was enough for Banister to blindly reach out and grapple onto Wade’s arm, the rasping sounds coming back rougher and more desperate.

“S-s-stop,” Banister choked. “Hurts.”

The grip hurt. It was strong, panicked and needy. The fingers dug into Wade’s fur and skin, curling them into a shaking fist.

Wade, however, made no move to get the grip off. “I know,” he said softly. He carefully withdrew his arms after setting Banister fully on the table, but the grip remained on his arm. “Bear with me, Banister, it won’t hurt for much longer.”

Their endoskeletons weren’t that much different, there had to be an off switch somewhere. Wade would turn Banister off for a little bit, examine the damage freely, do what he could to make the pain dim to something minimal, and then get Banister back up and running again. It was easy _topullouttheirownpartstogivetotheothers_ and wouldn’t take long _solonghowlonghavewebeeninhere_.

“Where’s your off switch?” Wade asked. Banister just stared at him. He felt the urge to look away when the shell of what remained of the right eye tried to rotate and look at him. “Do you have an off switch, Banister? Where is it?”

“N-neck.” Banister took in a deep, wavering breath. “How bad?”

He couldn’t lie to the kid. He couldn’t.

“Not as bad as you think.”

But he really could.

Banister didn’t look convinced. “‘m I gonna die?”

_We are going to die here._

There was no hesitation. “No.” Wade made sure his face showed that confidence in his voice. “You’re not going to die. It’s nothing fatal, Banister, you’ll be fine.”

The hand slowly released its grip. Instead of falling onto the table, it quivered its way up to the wound. Banister was trying to look at it, but he could only see through touch.

Wade didn’t waste time grabbing his hand. “Don’t touch it,” he chastised softly. “You’ll just make it worse.”

“Why does my mouth hurt?” Banister asked.

“It got to the top of your jaw. Grazed a tooth.” Like he was going to tell Banister that there was a split tooth.

“Feels… I-it feels bad.”

“It isn’t. Stop getting worked up, you’ll give yourself a heart attack at this point.” Wade looked over the damage as subtly as he could. He wouldn’t blame the rabbit for having a few over the damage. “I have to lift your head to get to your off switch. Just bear with me a little longer.”

“Faust,” Banister rasped. His spared eye was darting around. “Where’s Faust? I h-hear them.”

“Outside.” Wade couldn’t help but feel a slight touch of flattery at the fact that Faust was on Banister’s mind even past the horrible pain. At least that meant there was some good in this thing. “Now bear with me on lifting your head, it’s going to hurt.”

“H-he snuck it in,” the rabbit blurted. The panic started consuming his face again. “None… No one saw.”

The…weapon. “Okay,” Wade said. What else could he say?

“F-Faust, they…” A shaky inhale. “Heard them scream.”

“Because you got hurt,” the other said carefully. “Of course they screamed.”

“Saw Finnian.”

“I know. He’s okay.” Wade hoped so. The little thing didn’t need that grief on his shoulders.

“T-thought I…” Banister stared at him for a long moment. “Being d…dead?”

_Is that what it’s like being dead?_

“Yeah.” Just emptiness, blackness. No feeling, no warmth. Just empty air. “But I think you just got knocked out for a little. Pretty sure you’d be seeing something else.”

There was no humor in Banister’s face. No banter, no cocky remark, no confidence. Just raw fear and pain. “It hurts.”

“I know.” He did, and as much as he didn’t like Banister, he didn’t wish for the other to get a weapon lodged in his face. “I know, but it won’t for much longer. Just let me lift your head, alright? Just bear with me for a little longer.”

Banister didn’t say anything, but Wade took it as a go. He let go of the clenched hand carefully, eyeing it carefully to make sure there were no attempts to touch the wound. When he was sure that Banister would keep still, Wade moved his hands to the rabbit’s head. He was careful with his grip, but he knew the flare was inevitable.

It was. Banister started rasping again, the panic coming back worse. “S-stop, stop,” he begged. His head quivered, like he was trying to shake it but the throbbing pain wouldn’t let him. “Let go.”

Wade ignored him. He felt around for the button. If it wasn’t an immediate shutdown, he’d have to hold it for a few seconds.

“L-let go.” Banister tried to grit his teeth, but he let out a high whine. His tooth must have felt like half his face was gone. “Hurts.”

“Banister, just-.”

“Please.”

_Please let me out. Please make it stop. Please help them. Please save them. Please let me see my daughter again. Please get me out of here._

Wade nearly dropped Banister’s head, he really thought he had dropped it, but his grip had tightened. The rabbit was whimpering, eye squeezed shut. Wade’s thumb was on the junction where the jaw and face met, near the split tooth. Banister’s hand was back again, clinging to his wrist and trying to get Wade’s hand off.

Almost immediately Wade let go, setting Banister’s head down as carefully as he could in his rushed panic, but Banister didn’t. His grip remained, neither pulling or pushing. It held on, fingers like weak cuffs.

_Please help us please help us pleasehelpuspleasepleaseplease-!_

Wade brought his free hand up and grabbed Banister’s fingers, carefully prying them off. Instead of setting it back down, he cupped it in both hands. The fingers curled around his palm. They felt small, too small for something usually so witty and cocky. Banister’s free eye was still shut, still scrunched in pain, and he squeezed with everything he could.

This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what should be happening. Banister wasn’t supposed to be like this, lying on the backroom table on the verge of passing out and going into a blind panic, but he was. Wade wasn’t supposed to care, but he…was. He knew what it felt like; the pain, the fear, the thought that death was right there and what the emptiness felt like. Wade knew. He remembered. _They_ remembered. They would never forget.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

“You’re going to be fine, son,” Wade said gently. “I know it hurts, but you’re going to be fine.”

_We are going to die here._

A raspberry eye peeked at him, hesitant and glassy. Banister tried to talk again.

“Just hush. No more talking out of you. Just let me help you.” Wade gave his hand a firm squeeze. “You’ll be out for a few hours, you won’t feel a thing.”

“Sight…” It was a question.

“What did I just say? No more talking.” But Wade sighed. “I’ll fix it as best as I can, but I can’t make promises.”

Banister stared for a long time, nearly blankly, and then his grip loosened. Wade set his hand on the table, lingering for a moment, and then moving back to Banister’s head. He maneuvered his hands under Banister’s head, carefully lifting. There was whimpering, but it was quieter.

Wade found the button. He wasted no time in pressing it.

Banister went limp seconds later. His face loosened, the shaking fading nearly instantly. The pain was still there, but at least Banister wasn’t feeling it anymore.

A sigh. “Crazy kids.”

He had a lot of work to do.

\- - - - -

“He gonna be alright?”

“Physically and mentally? I’d say no.”

“Could’ve just said that.”

Banister was still asleep, but he lying on the stage with a blanket thrown over him. Faust was lying next to him, curled around his left side and holding his hand. They had fallen asleep after a long bout of relieved crying.

_“You saved him.”_

_Wade brushed his hands off. Some small bits of shrapnel from Banister’s face were in his fur. “Of course I did,” he said._

_Faust was leaning over the table, sniffling and crying. They were holding Banister’s hand tightly, their arms shaking like it was too heavy for them to handle. Banister wouldn’t be up for another few hours, but the longer he was out the better._

_“I thought…”_

_Wade didn’t want to know what Faust thought. He moved, settling a hand on the small shoulder when he got close. “He’s going to be fine,” he said._

_Faust looked up at him. The teary blues only filled up more. “Thank you, daddy.”_

_A small tug at Wade’s heart. He couldn’t help but give a small smile. “Anytime, pumpkin. You always know I’ll come when you call.”_

Frazier sighed. “Please don’ ever ma'e me do tha’ again. Foxy's even beggin' ya no' ta.”

“I think you did great comforting them,” Chica said. Corina was somewhere inside quietly hiding, she hadn't heard a peep from the girl in hours. “But I would’ve appreciated two hands.”

Bonnie glared at her. Barkley was hiding, too. He could feel the boy pressed against their deepest corners, and he didn't push to wedge Barkley out. “I would’ve appreciated two hands, too.”

“It’s too late to deal with your arguing. Do it later.” Wade looked at Bonnie. “How’s Finnian?”

“Dead to the world right now.” The red dots darted to the Cove. “Poor guy. Freaked really bad when he heard Faust scream; said Banister’s was even worse.”

“He just lost it.” Chica looked towards the Cove. They had made sure Finnian was swaddled in blankets and given enough plushies to keep him company before leaving. “I never thought he had that in him.”

“No one did.” Frazier, despite the pride he felt Foxy giving off, frowned deeply. “He’s…not goin’ ta take tha' well la'er.”

“Chiquita spent a lot of time in the bathroom.” Chica looked back towards the stage. She was in her own next of blankets in the corner, hidden away. “Nearly scrubbed her feathers off. Have no idea how we're going to get the faint splotches out of white.”

A sigh from everyone.

“…They’ll be fine,” Wade said quietly. “Banister should have some sight left in his eye, and everyone else should be alright.”

“Minus Finnian.” Frazier shifted. “I... Foxy doesn’ feel comfor'able leavin’ ‘im 'ere alone righ’ now.”

None of them felt comfortable leaving any of the others alone. “We’ll stay here tonight, then get them back home for some relaxation later,” Wade said. “We can’t move them now, and Banister can’t be moved now anyways.”

“What about Gordon? We can’t leave him unsupervised all night,” Chica reminded.

“I’ll call. I have a feeling Grey’s out doing something in the neighborhood if he’s not here.” It was rare for Grey to roll too far away from the pizzeria. Wade turned and walked towards the office. “At least the body will be gone by Monday.”

It didn’t take long for them to get somewhat comfortable. Frazier hadn’t wasted much time getting back to the Cove to watch Finnian, Chica settling beside Chiquita carefully as not to wake her, and Bonnie lying against the wall by Faust and Banister.

Wade settled himself against the opposite side of the stage after getting off the phone. Grey had nearly bolted back home when Wade told him what happened, sounding more worried for Finnian than Banister, but Wade managed to convince him that it was taken care of. They both had agreed that Gordon needed to be watched while the group was gone; they couldn’t handle another roof incident this month. It would give the old suit a workout, going up the hill, but Grey had been more than confident that he would make it up.

The heater was running.

Wade looked back at Banister. It was a big change from a few hours ago. He crossed his fingers and hoped that the rabbit would remain unconscious throughout the morning when they moved him.

He had gotten Bonnie to gather up what shards were lying on the ground in the office and shove them into a container. It wasn’t Wade’s best work, but it was enough. The rest of the eye had to be scraped out; the inner socket would have had to have been removed entirely, but Wade had been shaking too badly _FreddywasnthelpingFreddyplease-_ to even attempt that, so it remained for the time being. Wade wasn’t a dentist, but he had tried to mend the split tooth as best as he could with some metal pieces that hadn’t made the cut back onto Banister’s face. If he had a welder and not just a few matches he could have done more for the face, but he just barely managed with the tooth. He’d have to do more work when they got back home, completely mend the tooth and what parts on Banister’s face that didn’t stick.

For now, it was covered in bandages. Wade knew what it looked like underneath, he couldn’t let Faust see it or risk Banister having a heart attack if he somehow got up and wandered to a mirror later on. The tooth was covered with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol to help numb it, Banister’s mouth slightly unhinged from it. He hoped Faust wasn’t inhaling too much of it. Their head was settled above Banister’s, probably in case they woke up with a start and bumped his jaw. Wade could barely even move Banister without Faust following right behind him, still crying and shaking. The move was more for their comfort, he didn’t want them standing for hours or hurting their back from being hunched in a chair.

Wade sighed. He clung to the sound of the heater. Better than the thoughts and memories behind his eyelids. Usually Frazier would be there, his body heat and weight enough to ground Wade, but he wasn’t. It sparked a little fear in his head, that Frazier was more upset than he thought about comforting Faust, but Wade tried to convince himself fully that it was just Frazier being concerned and Foxy being protective of the ragged fox he called his cousin.

_We are going to die here._

Wade had truly thought he was going to die in that room. That _they_ were going to die in that room. They had been split apart, parts they could spare being used for the others, and locked away in a back room to rot in their misery. They thought they were going to die under the gleam of the ax, thought it was over when it cut their face in near two. They remembered what it was like, being gone and detached in the void.

But he was here, they were here, and now the cycle had repeated itself.

_“‘m I gonna die?”_

_“Feels… I-It feels bad.”_

_“It hurts.”_

_“Please.”_

Wade squeezed his eyes shut. His left eye was starting to ache.

This shouldn’t have happened. Banister shouldn’t have been attacked like that. Why with an ax? Why not anything else that wasn’t an ax? Why didn’t the guard just skip their shift if they were so desperate to defend themselves? Why was this happening again? Why to the person that his child loved? Why had Faust been there to see it and the aftermath? Why had the group been forced to suffer in a domino effect of misery?

Just why?

Wade didn’t like Banister, didn’t like that fact this his little munchkin was dating something that he was convinced wasn’t good for them, but this… This wasn’t what Wade wanted. He hadn’t wanted this. The only person that deserved to have an ax lodged in his face was the person who had ripped apart Wade’s family in the first place, not a cocky, annoying rabbit who had too much of a vocabulary.

He still didn’t like Banister, but seeing the utter terror on the usually confident face and hearing the raw fear in the brazen voice had Wade feeling something other than simmering annoyance. Wade had that expression once, had that voice, had that pain. He knew what it was like to be under the blade like that, what it was like to be on the other end of someone in a frenzy.

Wade was sure he’d never like Banister, he’d never be fully okay with the rabbit dating his little pumpkin, but he knew that things between them were certainly different.

There was a small sound. Banister shifted just so in his spot, ears twitching against the floor. Faust didn’t move, too exhausted from hours of sobbing to notice the small change.

“Hng…” It was a pained groan. “Hurts…”

Wade was already up. He was quiet when moving to Banister’s side, settling on the floor next to the other. The rabbit was breathing raggedly in short breaths, his face scrunched slightly as he slowly became more aware.

“H-help me…” His breathing became more pained, the panic taking ahold again. “Faust…” 

_"Bunny's hurting, he's hurting, hisfacehisfacehisface-!"_

"Hush," Wade whispered. Freddy went quiet. Wade settled a hand on Banister’s, taking the clenched fist and squeezing it. He had to wait for the right moment to find the shutdown button again. “Shh,” he hushed. “Settle down, son, you’re alright. It’s over now.”

Clumsy fingers laced with Wade’s. The grip was enough to make the retired performer wince, his seasoned hand molding under the pressure. “H-ha… H-hurts…”

“I know,” Wade murmured. He really did. He couldn’t stop himself from nestling his other hand near Banister’s left ear, from gently massaging the mauve fur. “I know it hurts. I’ll get you something to ease the pain, just rest for now.”

A dark raspberry eye peeked at him. It held no recognition, just desperation and pain. “I…”

“Shh…” Wade was careful in covering Banister’s eye, his fingers still working above the socket. “Enough of that, son, just rest up.”

The grip just tightened. Banister was trying to grit his teeth. “‘on’t leave me,” he rasped. “C-can’t…”

“I’m staying right here.” He knew he would, no matter how much of a dislike he held for the other. “No one’s leaving you alone.”

A small, sharp cry. Wade’s palm felt wet. Freddy squirmed within him.

“We’re all done with that now, alright? You’re safe, you’re going to get fixed up, and you’re not being left alone.” His left eye was aching so much, but so was his right one. He didn’t know what was wrong with it. “Back to sleep with you now, you’re alright.”

“Wade?” The desperation in Banister’s voice paired with his name had him stiffen. “Wade?”

“…Go back to sleep, son. Settle down for Faust, you’re going to worry my munchkin.”

Faust was still fast asleep, but Banister didn’t need to know that.

Minutes passed with Banister just painfully rasping. Wade held his hand the entire time, made no move to pull himself away or stop petting the soft fur, and murmured comforts in a low tone. They were the only sounds in the building, ones no one else in their exhaustion would hear. Wade, however, was positive he was the only one who would remember every single one of them.

Eventually Banister’s grip on his hand loosened, and the wetness under Wade’s palm cooled. The shaking faded, the rasping breaths settled back into quiet wheezing. It must have been some sort of hiccup with his programming if he was waking up and falling back into empty unconsciousness, or maybe the pain had been enough to rip him out of that. Wade didn’t know. He just knew Banister was going to be living on painkillers for the next few weeks, especially after the welding was done.

Wade pulled his hands away, only to grab the blanket covering the sleeping rabbit and pulling it farther up.

_“‘on’t leave me.”_

Wade didn’t move an inch the rest of the night.

Freddy curled around him tightly.


	2. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to fix Banister's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the father-son moments 👀

It was all a haze.

“…see you and Finnian outside for…?” 

It was all a painful haze.

“Dad, really? We…”

He was shaking so much that everything ached with the throbbing of his face. When he wanted to be warm, he was freezing. When he wanted to be cold, he was burning alive. The only nearly constant was the pain in his face, fading in with shooting sparks and fading out with throbbing numbness. There was something jammed in the back of his mouth, numbing the faint pain that came from there.

“Pumpkin, this…have to tell you…”

Banister didn’t know what was happening. All he knew that things hurt and that it was all too much.

“You said…fixed…”

There were snippets that came to him, fragments of reality that slipped past his haze. He remembered the flash of something sharp, something lodging in his head. He remembered hearing Faust scream, seeing a blur of red before everything went dark. Maybe it was dark for a while, he wasn’t sure. There wasn’t much to remember about that; Banister could only feel a numb terror in his chest when he thought about it. The sharp pain of the blade being jerked out of his face and mouth was something he couldn’t forget no matter how much of the numbness swallowed his head.

“I can, but…”

There were a few times where reality sharpened enough to where he could truly realize what was happening. He remembered someone talking to him, coaxing him from the adrenalized terror and pain every time he was dipped back into it. Being lifted light of the office made his eye hurt so much _ithurtswhycantIsee_ and feeling the warmth the other body gave, things that slightly grounded him. He remembered the cold feeling of the table, hands gripping him and pushing into his aching face; someone holding his hand and telling him that he was going to be alright.

“But what, Wade…?”

He didn’t want to fully believe it was Wade. Why should he when the other wanted nothing to do with him? Banister was dating his only child, and so was Finnian but Wade actually liked Finnian. Banister wasn’t a role model boyfriend, he knew that at least, but he was at least trying somewhat. He couldn’t be a wedge between Faust and Wade, couldn’t split them apart even a little more than what his presence was already doing, and he had to try. Wade may not want to, but Banister was going to somewhat appeal to him one day.

“Dad…?”

He swore he remembered waking up at one point, swore that he was back in the office and on the ground with the ax in his face. Banister swore that was the case, it had to have been the case, but then someone _whyisWadehereagain_ was there to bring him back. The blanket that had been thrown over him was suddenly there again, a comforting weight, and the smell of vanilla floated in to replace the smell of blood that Banister didn’t remember tasting _Finniangotinhetriedtohelp_ or seeing.

“Finnian, you and munchkin go…can’t see…” 

But the fear was still too much, and Banister couldn’t stop himself from calling for Wade _pleasehelpmeithurtsdontleaveme_.

“…eaving him!”

_“…Go back to sleep, son. Settle down for Faust, you’re going to worry my munchkin.”_

“Dad! You jerk, don’t kick…!” 

It shouldn’t have been Wade there for him, couldn’t have been, but that deep timber twang and firm tone was undeniably his.

“Finnian, don’t…ust leave.”

Things got blurrier after he fell asleep.

“M-make me!”

The surface he was lying on changed from cold and unmoving to soft and warm. The still air of the building, of baked sweets and cheesy pizza, changed to a dustier movement of butterscotch and coffee. The smell of vanilla followed him, the gentle tang of sea salt mixing at some point in time. He had been moved, Banister could grasp at that, but he wasn’t sure where. He didn’t know what was happening, and it made him incredibly uneasy to know that he was being touched and moved without knowing the full story of where and why.

“…us’ go outside, Fin.”

“No! You’ll kill…”

“Fin, please…” 

But it was alright, he supposed, because he had them.

“…not kicking me out for this…!”

_“We’re right here, bunny, it’s okay.”_

_“You’re going to be okay, cupcake.”_

_“You’ll be fixed up in no time, teacup.”_

_“It’s okay, huckleberry, we’re not leaving.”_

“…ut me down!”

His hands were always kept warm, always being gently rubbed and held. He’d feel gentle kisses on his cheek and hands, murmurs of endearment and reassurance floating through the haze. Banister could feel and hear them most of the time, he knew who was there, and he’d try to respond as best as he could.

“…sure they don’t get in…can’t mess up…” 

But now there was no warmth around his hands, no murmured endearments and reassurances in his ear, no gentle kisses. There wasn’t anything anymore.

“…actually fix him?”

Banister let out a small groan as he tried to wake up. It was like pins and needles in his skin, his face throbbing. He hated taking whatever he was being given. At first it was a pill, and that he tried to spit up a few times and he most likely bit someone’s finger _daditsokitsokhesjustscared_ , and then they switched to an injection. It worked faster, was only a pinch, but it was always startling to him no matter how many times someone told him it was going to be fast.

“…bad. It’s really bad, but I’ll try…”

There were lights. He wasn’t lying flat, it hurt too much and Banister was relieved that it was caught by them, but the lights at any angle still made his eye hurt. Everything was blurry, uneven.

“…eed help gettin’ ‘im down?”

“No, I’ll…”

His ears flopped uselessly against the pillows. What was going on? Where were Faust and Finnian?

The soft click of the door shutting was deafening to his ears.

“…st bear with me, Banister, it won’t take long.”

His limbs were limp aside from the shivers, being moved easily into strategic places. They were being tied, his ankles and wrists along with his torso, down to the bed. The restraints were cloth, the knots tight. Banister managed to focus his vision on something. Someone. Wade. Wade was the one tying the restraints on him.

“Wade?” His voice was scratchy.

The mismatched eyes glanced at him. “How are you feeling?”

The deep timber had Banister shuddering a bit. “Why are you tying me down?” he rasped.

“Did you not hear me from all the sedatives you’re on or did you just ignore me?” Wade asked flatly.

Banister settled his head back down. He didn’t remember lifting it. “My face ‘urts,” he muttered.

“So that’s a no to my question.” He didn’t look surprised.

“Why are you tying me down?” Banister asked again. Why was that happening? Where were Faust and Finnian?

Wade’s frown, almost always there when Banister was around, deepened. If Banister was kidding himself, he’d think it was concern. “I’m going to fix your face as best as I can now that I have the right tools,” he said.

Banister couldn’t help but reach up. There wasn’t a tie around his right wrist yet, not like his right one. He avoided the side of his mouth and went for his face. His fingers brushed against coarse bandages.

His hand was gently batted away. “Don’t touch it,” Wade chastised, the stern expression back. “You just said it hurts.”

“How bad?” Had he asked that question before?

“I said earlier: not as bad as you think.”

Except… “It feels bad.”

“And I’ve told you that it isn’t as bad as you think it is.”

“But it’s bad.”

Wade had grabbed a pair of scissors at one point. Banister wasn’t sure when, he only noticed when Wade paused with the scissors catching some slight light. It sent a shudder down his spine, only adding to the shivering from the cold and numbed pain.

“Wade?”

“…It’s not good, but it isn’t horrible either.” Wade moved to the other side of the bed. Banister had to shut his eye when the dizziness stopped him from tracking the hulking bear. “Now just hold still, I need to cut off your bandages and I don’t want to nick you.”

The sound of the scissors cutting through the bandages had Banister’s gut squirming. It was loud, right next to his ear. It only added to the mounting fear. Why did he need to be tied down for Wade to fix his face? He kept wondering that even when the bandages were pulled away, even when he gave a violent shudder at the freezing air touching the wound.

There was a small hiss. Banister managed to catch Wade’s expression, how his brows were pinched and his face was in a grimace.

“What?” Banister blurted, ears quivering against the pillows. Wade’s eyes darted up to him, his face smoothing back to collected. “What was that face? You said it wasn’t bad. How bad is it? What’s-?”

“Hush,” Wade commanded, his expression stone. Banister immediately stopped talking, eye wide. He couldn’t see out of the other one still. “I said it wasn’t good. Did you not hear that?”

Banister just stared. His hand twitched.

“Don’t even think about touching it.” Wade set the scissors down. “Now I’m going to tie your right wrist down, alright? No hitting me.”

“Why are you tying me down?” How many times had he asked that?

“I already told you.”

“…It’s going to hurt.” It was more of a statement than a question.

Wade sighed. “We don’t have enough sedatives to put you completely under and it’s going to be awhile before we scrounge enough up for that. If we wait that long, we’ll run through what we have now and we’ll be back on the same issue. I'm not a doctor either, I don't want to risk anything going wrong if you were out.”

Banister said nothing. He just let Wade take his wrist and secure it with the cloth.

“It won’t be long. I’ll be as fast as I can. I can work pretty well under pressure.” Wade turned away from him and went to the other side of the room. “I was good at my job.”

“Where’s Faust and Finnian?” Banister managed to lift his head again. He tried to recall snippets of the conversation he had heard, Faust’s yelling and Finnian’s protesting. “Did you…?”

“They’re outside. They can come back in when I’m done.” Wade picked up something. It was flat, long, and black. “You feeling fuzzy? Not too aware? I can get you as close to out as I can.”

Banister just stared.

Wade sighed. “I would take the staring as you being high of your horse, but since you’re talking pretty clearly I think it’s pretty clear. Give me a second to get this on and then I’ll give you another shot.”

“Why are you putting on a welder’s mask?” His voice sounded so small. “Are you going to…?”

“Yes.” Wade had fitted the strap over his head, his ears giving a small wiggle after being pressed to his head. The mask was flipped up. “I’ve got one good eye left, I’m not going to blind myself.”

Banister was trying to sit up, to back further onto the cot. With the restraints, he barely moved. “You’re not getting a blowtorch anywhere near me,” he rasped, eye wide.

“Listen, I know for a fact you’re not going to be able to live with looking at your face if I don’t weld it together. Remember when I said it wasn’t good? Yeah, it’s not.” He riffled through the bag a bit more. “When I said I was good at my job, I meant it. It’ll be fast.”

“You’re putting an open flame that’s over a thousand degrees on my face!” the rabbit shouted. He looked at the door. “Faust! Finnian!”

Wade had found the blowtorch. It seemed so small in his hand, didn’t look like it would bring something so painful. He turned back to Banister, his face a touch softer. “You need to relax, you’re getting yourself too worked up,” he said. “They’ll come back when I’m done, they can’t be in here while I’m working since we’ve only got one mask.”

Banister was shaking. The raspberry iris was blind with spreading panic, his ears folded down tightly. “Put it away.” He tried to sit up again, but he couldn’t. “Get it away from me.”

Wade, of course, didn’t listen. He lumbered over to the bed, torch in hand. He set it on the nightstand to go through the drawer. “I’m gonna give you another shot, alright? It’s going to be as numbed as I can get it.”

Banister just kept trying to lean away as best as he could. “Wade, I know you don’t like me, but I think this is a little excessive,” he managed breathlessly.

Wade’s search for the sedatives stopped. His head whipped so fast to Banister that the rabbit was nearly ripped out of bonds because of it, the mismatched eyes wide as either could be. “You think I’m doing this to hurt you?” He sounded so…surprised.

Banister didn’t respond. He just went back to looking at the blowtorch as much as he could from his angle.

“I’m not doing this on purpose, you idiot.” The remark was nearly spat. Wade looked offended, his jaw clenched. “My munchkin is outside wanting you to be mostly in one piece again, you think I’m going to let her down?”

“And that means I can trust you with that thing?!” Banister snapped. He winced at the throbbing in his tooth, a groan escaping when it ignited the pain in his face again. “You can hurt me all you want as long as the end game is me being fixed! I don’t care if you were good at whatever you did before, I’m not letting someone who would gladly throw me off of a building get near me with a blowtorch!”

Wade just stared.

“Get someone else who doesn’t want me dead,” the rabbit hissed. He was straining against his restraints to lean away from Wade. “I’d feel safer with Todd holding the blasted thing than you. That’s how much I don’t trust you.”

“…I don’t want you dead,” Wade said after a moment. Banister’s expression must have been as colorful as he thought because Wade gave him a small glare. “I don’t like that you’re dating my little munchkin, I don’t really like you, but I’m not going to kill you over it.” A pause. “Unless you did something to hurt my baby.”

“They’d tell you if I did, I’m sure.” Banister was still leaning away. “And that’s supposed to magically make me trust you with that thing? Repeat what you said, but slower.”

“Remember what I said, but slower,” Wade countered, grumbling. “I don’t want you dead.”

“But you want to hurt me.”

“How many times are we going to go in circles with this? No, I’m not taking advantage of your face being essentially split in half right now because I want to hurt you, I’m doing it because Finnian and my munchkin want you fixed up and recovering as soon as possible. This isn’t about me, it’s about them and…” He huffed. “It’s about you too.”

“…You could hurt me and get away with it. You know I wouldn’t tell Faust.” Banister wasn’t really sure why he admitted that, but he did and it was out.

“And while that’d be nice to hear at any other time, right now that doesn’t make me feel too good about myself.”

“What-?”

Wade lifted up the syringe. “Found it,” he said, almost too quickly. “I’ll give it to you in your arm. Crushing up a pill and making you drink it wouldn’t work as fast and I need to get you fixed up before Faust breaks down the door and gets me in the gut.”

“We haven’t really resolved the ‘you don’t like me’ and ‘I don’t trust you’ issue,” Banister managed to get out. He wasn’t too squeamish of needles, but right now with it in Wade’s hand it wasn’t making him feel safe whatsoever.

“We don’t need to resolve it, I just need to get your face as fixed as I can in the span of a few seconds and let those two back in so they don’t kill me.” Wade grabbed his arm. “Relax, you’ll feel sore for days otherwise.”

A pitiful struggle. “Do not touch me! We’re not done talking!”

The mismatched eyes rolled. “Have it your way.”

The prick of the needle made Banister yelp. It was a fast injection, probably too fast to be safe, but the needle was withdrawn shortly afterwards. “You jerk!” Banister shrieked. He was already feeling fuzzy. “You can’t just do that!”

“Who says?” The syringe was set aside. “Just pipe down and let the thing do it’s work. You’ll want to be as relaxed as possible.”

“Yes, before you burn me an open flame that’s over a thousand degrees!” Banister clenched his jaw as best as he could, but even that was feeling loose. Whatever he had been given was a fast acting drug. “Where did you even get these things?!”

“Barkley tends to find the good stuff. We don’t know how, not even Bonnie knows, he just does.” A flat glance. “Feeling fuzzy yet?”

He was, and Banister hated it. He didn’t like feeling like this when Wade was right next to him. It was bad enough with just him, but being tied down and drugged with the guy holding a blowtorch was the stuff of nightmares. “I hate you,” he grumbled. His tongue felt heavy.

Wade shrugged. “Feeling’s mutual.”

Instead of jumping in the second the drug kicked in, Wade left him be for a few minutes. It was something to resent and be thankful for at the same time, it only made the anticipation worse but Banister wanted just a little more time. His body felt heavy, the painful throb in his face and jaw became numbed. It was hard for Banister to struggle much, a drowsy feeling taking ahold of him. It wasn’t enough to knock him out, especially not with the fear, but it certainly felt like enough.

“That’s one way to get you quiet,” Wade muttered. There wasn’t any fire in his voice, much to Banister’s surprise.

“‘te you,” Banister slurred. He couldn’t even say that.

“And like I said, feeling’s mutual.” Wade lifted the blowtorch. “Time to rip the band-aid off and get it over with.”

Banister had fallen limp in the binding. He couldn’t pull away without truly making an effort. “‘n’t touch me,” the rabbit grumbled. “‘aust, I wan’ Faust and ‘inn’n.”

A sigh. “I know.” There was some sympathy in Wade’s face from what he could tell. “They’ll come back in when it’s over, alright? You just have to bear with it for a little longer.”

A quiet groan. “‘on’t.”

Wade’s palm felt enormous on his face. It was covering nearly the entire side of his face. The fingers were curled under his chin, the wide palm over his eye. The angle was bad; this wasn’t working on something miniscule, this was Banister’s face. It wasn’t going to work.

“Ge’ ‘ff.” Wade’s hand was holding his mouth shut.

“Not having you bite me again,” the other muttered. “And I can’t have you moving. If I can make sure you have some sight in it, I will, but you have to stay still.”

“‘Ing my f’ce ‘ff.” You’re going to burn my face off, you jerk!

“I’m burning it back on, actually.” The flame flicked on, burning blue and hot. “Now hold still.”

The second the flame touched his face, Banister started screaming. It was like someone pouring molten lava on his face; it was pouring all over his body. Stars exploded in his vision, bright colors bursting like birthday balloons. He ripped at his restraints as best as he could, the sedative in his system weighing him down and Wade’s hand pinning his face. It did nothing for his face; he felt every bit of the pain, the burning. His ears quaked and flopped against the pillow, trying hard to do something, anything, to get Wade off of him, but they were useless.

Wade was saying something, but he couldn’t hear it. All Banister heard was the white noise steadily growing over his screams and the crackling of the torch.

“…eathe, just breathe!”

There was no air to breathe. There was just the smell of copper and fire. He tasted metal on his tongue.

"Wade, he's dea-!"

It felt like something ruptured inside of him; a numbness. It washed over his body like a giant wave, nothing cold or hot, and the white noise was all he could hear.

_“Mimi, I want to be the villain next!”_

_“If you can handle it. You sure you’re up to be the bad guy? Remember what happened last time?”_

_“I can do it! Please, Mimi, I wanna be the villain!”_

_“Ok. Guys, sissy's the villain this time!”_

Water splashed on his face. It was freezing, cold enough to break him out of the numbness. It was in his nose and mouth, pooled in his ears and on his chest. Banister coughed and sputtered, shaking as he tried to suck in oxygen.

“Oh, thank the stars! Come on, son, breathe, just breathe.”

The world came back to him slowly. The blackness around his vision steadily cleared, color and sight coming back to him. Feeling came back with it, the cold water being matched with the burning in his face and the stiffness in his limbs.

But there was warmth on his shoulders. Wade’s hands were on his shoulders, firm and tight. He was hovering next to the bed, the welder’s mask up to show his face; he looked sick. There was fear. It didn’t look right on him.

“You back with me?” Wade asked. Banister coughed again. “It’s alright, just cough it up and breathe. Take it easy.”

“What…?” A wheeze. His voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk. “What happened?”

Wade swallowed. His ears were low and folded. “Lost you for a bit,” he admitted. “Your body couldn’t take it all and you just…” He sighed, shoulders sagging. “Should’ve waited for more sedatives and put you out then, that was too close.”

Banister was still shaking. He felt exhausted. “Hurts,” he rasped.

“I know. There’s still some left to give you to ease the pain. We still should’ve waited for Barkley to get more. Hell, we should’ve stocked up.”

“N-no, that and your hands.” He winced. Wade had a really good grip on him, the fingers curled into his skin.

Wade practically ripped his hands away. The fingers were still curled, twitching slightly. “Sorry,” he rumbled.

Banister swallowed. His throat was so dry. “Water?”

“Yeah, I’ll get you some.” Wade turned back to the nightstand. A bottle of water was sitting next to the blowtorch. “I’ll give you some more of that sedative once you get some water, alright?’

“Yeah.” Banister tried to lift his head. He shuddered at the water that had collected in the curves of his ears. “Sounds great.”

He must have shook the bed from how much he jumped in his restraints when Wade’s palm snuck under his head and held him up. The rabbit must have made a sound, some kind of sound, but the second the water touched his lips he didn’t care. It was cool, soothed his throat.

It was taken away barely a second later. “Slow down, you’ll choke yourself,” Wade chastised. “And you’ll get sick. I’m not going to be the one to clean you up, alright? I don’t like you that much.”

The water was returned before Banister could even think of a comeback. Banister listened to Wade’s scolding and slowed down, even if he wanted to gulp down the entire thing.

It took a bit for Banister to be satisfied. He made a small sound, and then Wade was pulling it back. He took in shuddery breaths, going limp against the strong hand and restraints.

“Nearly drank the whole thing. Probably should’ve given you some beforehand.” The bottle was set aside. “I’ll give you that shot now.”

Banister swore to himself that he didn’t want to whine when Wade took his hand away. “Thank you,” he got out. His throat still hurt, but it wasn’t as bad now.

The shot beforehand had settled in again, so he barely felt the second one. It kicked in just as fast, the fuzzy feeling taking ahold of most of him. The throbbing in his face was still there, but it wasn’t enough to make him really care. The quivering stopped. The pain was a dull throb now, something he could live with.

The rag running over his one ear had him jumping. “Easy,” Wade murmured. “I got a lot of water on you.”

Banister tried to look over at him, but his eye slid away, unfocused. “Did you… ‘d you throw water on…?” His tongue felt heavy.

“Had to find some way to get you back. Thank the stars that worked, we don’t have those electric paddle things.” His other ear was dried. “Feeling fuzzy again? Better?”

“Yeah.” Banister thought he wiggled his ears. He couldn’t really tell now. “Fuzzy...”

A small, but audible, chuckle. “Maybe lay off words with ‘z’ in them for a bit.” The rag went across his muzzle. “You’ll be feeling a lot better once Barkley resupplies. We won’t have to worry about knocking you out for me to work on you, we’ll just give you a shot in your mouth when I work on your tooth.”

“‘s it ok?” Banister managed to ask.

“It’s a lot better, I can tell you that.” Wade gently dabbed the cloth around the repaired socket. “It’s pretty scarred, but I welded the split together. Your body will do some work on it and eventually you’ll be a hundred percent in terms of how it feels.”

“Sight?” That was something he wanted to know. He still couldn’t see.

Wade frowned. “I didn’t get to tweak that while working on your face. I wasn’t expecting you to fold on me, not gonna lie.” He sat up, the rag being set next to Banister. “I was hoping to let you rest up now that your face is fixed, but I guess the sight has to be fixed now.”

“‘s gonna hur'?”

“Some mild discomfort, but no actual pain.” The tongs in Wade’s hands looked so small, as did the flashlight in the other. “Bear with me again.”

It certainly was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t unbearable. The rabbit may have let out a small sound in discomfort, but for the most part he was still. Wade was holding the flashlight above the empty socket, tinkering with something.

“I thought I’d have to remove the socket, but I think I can leave it. It’s not causing you too much pain, right?”

“No.”

“Good. That’d be an actual surgery and I don’t think you can handle another one after what just happened.”

Banister managed to focus on Wade, even if everything was still blurry. He was giving a small, crooked smile before he realized what he was doing, giggling. “Shouldn’t Faust be holding that?”

Wade glanced at him. “What are you on about?” he mumbled, going back to working.

“Kids hold flashlights for their dads when working on a car.” He giggled again. He didn’t know why it was so funny to him.

A small, amused huff. “That’s just hilarious to you, huh?” There was no fire in Wade’s voice. “Yeah, Katie had to help me a few times with that. She liked beating me over the head with the flashlight.”

“‘an you work with one hand?”

“I just fixed your face with one hand, didn’t I?” A pause. “I’d let you hold this thing if you weren’t high as a kite and you could actually move, but I’ve got it.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” Something was turned. “Alright, I’m going to take these things back so you can tell me if you see or not. I think I fixed the problem.”

There was color again. Sight. Banister blinked slowly, his body sluggish.

Wade raised a brow. “That’s an unusual pattern,” he commented. “You can see?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I can. ‘s wrong with it?”

“Nothing, just a little weird. Your vision isn't a spiral, right?”

Banister looked around as best as he could. “‘le blurry, but no.”

“Huh.” Wade set the tongs and flashlight aside. “Guess it suits you. You’re a bit of a livewire.”

Banister wasn’t sure what that meant, but as long as he could see… “U'tie me?”

“Right.”

The restraints came off. The slight prickles that had been bothering him before weren’t there anymore. Banister tried to move, but his limbs were still so heavy, and so he settled where he was.

Wade picked up the rag again and wiped his chest. “You feeling alright?”

“Yeah, ‘m ok.” Banister looked at him. He felt tired. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” Wade frowned a bit. “Sorry for getting water everywhere. There used to be a second bottle and then I used it all on your face.”

“'ll of it?”

“I was in a bit of a panic, I’ll admit. I thought you passed out at first, then you didn’t move an inch after I finished.”

“How long was I gone?”

“Few minutes, give or take. Not too long.” Wade tossed the rag over his shoulder, sighing. “You scared the absolute daylights out of me. I wasn’t expecting you to die on me.”

Banister blinked. “I’m back,” he said simply. He felt like a child saying it, something so simple and plain.

Wade still had a grimace on his face, even if it was small. “Yeah, you are.” He didn’t look proud of anything. “Sorry about that, son.”

Banister stared.

“That doesn’t leave this room.”

“Okay.” The dazed eyes slipped to the door.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m getting them.” Wade lumbered over to the door, scowling. “I blame you if Katie kills me.”

It took less than a second after Wade opened the door for Faust to be there. Their eyes were dark, teeth bared and expression scolding furious. Finnian’s was the same.

“He’s alive, he can see, he’s awake. Where’s my husband?”

Faust and Finnian pushed past him. Frazier came around the corner, holding his chest. “She ‘its 'ard,” he wheezed. "No' even Foxy stuck aroun'."

 _"I don't blame him."_ Freddy's voice was quiet, but cheerful.

Wade gave a sheepish smile. “You okay?”

“I thin’ she broke somethin’.” Frazier winced as he straightened. “Barkley ‘ad ta lock Fin in t’e bathroom.” He glared into the room. “Yer little munchkin was t’e real problem. I’m never goin’ up agains' tha' thin’ ever again.”

Wade felt himself be shoved back. "Where's Foxy?" Freddy asked giddily. 

_"Freddy-"_

Frazier blinked, surprised. He shivered, and then the glare returned hotter and angrier. "No' lickin' me wounds if tha's wha' ye're thinkin'," Foxy grumbled. 

Freddy giggled. "I know that's not you. I'm just glad you're okay." His hands clasped together, his smile warm and nervous. "I think you were really brave, I know how scary she can get."

A faint flush arose on the maroon cheeks. Foxy chuckled, idly twisting his hook and his ears lowering. "A-aye, I guess I was." 

_"Freddy, as much as I'd be more than happy to oblige to you being with your boyfriend, what'd I say about switching without any warning?"_

_"H-h-he's not my boyfriend, he's not!"_

A quiet hum."

 _I'm sorry!"_ Freddy grinned sheepishly at Foxy, face flushed. "Wade's coming back."

"Frazier wan's 'is turn back, too. Keeps grumblin' abou' 'ow much 'e aches." The honey eye burned brighter, his scowl returning crookedly. "Even though _I_ 'andled the bra' fer tha mos' par'!"

A violent shudder went through the grizzled pirate. "Ye did no'!" Frazier barked. A gekker teased the end of his voice. "Ye were screamin' li'e a bitch!"

Wade was suddenly shoved back to the front. It was so fast it made his neck hurt. _"Tag in,"_ Freddy whispered.

The spirit sighed, but amusement tinted it. Wade smiled and leaned down to plant a kiss on Frazier's forehead. “Well, it’s just nice to see my husband alive and not entirely in pieces.”

The grizzled fox scowled. “Yeah. Ye owe me." He grunted quietly, almost like he was shoved. "Us," he corrected with a growl.

“Of course, darlin’.” Wade kissed his nose gently. “Anything you want.”

Color rose in Frazier’s cheeks. “Ye’re lucky tha' I really li'e wha' ye call me er else I’d be jus’ as pissed as I was five secon’s ago.” He glanced over Wade’s shoulder, curious and ears flicking. “He alrigh'?”

“He’s fine.”

“We coul' 'ear ‘im screamin’ an' ye yellin’ downstairs. Then we couldn’ 'ear 'im anymore.”

Wade sighed. “Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that.”

Frazier’s ears pulled back. “Shi', did he actually die?” he blurted.

“Shh! I don’t want them hearing that.”

“I don’ thin’ that’s a problem.” He gestured to them. “They’re off wit’ ‘im.”

Finnian had crawled into Banister’s lap, settled on the rabbit’s chest and nuzzling his neck. Faust was holding his hand, kissing and petting it with teary eyes. Banister was smiling tiredly, eyes half-lidded and the left glassy.

“How are you feeling, bunny?” Faust asked.

“Better.” Banister glanced down at Finnian, chuckling weakly. “I’m 'kay, cookie.”

Finnian pressed harder against him. “We heard you screaming,” he whimpered. “We were so scared.”

“‘s fine the whole time.” Banister managed to lift his arm, settling his hand on the fox’s back. “‘m okay.”

Faust kissed his hand again, sniffling. Their ears were low, shoulders quivering.

Banister returned the grip with a gentle squeeze. “Don’ cry, buttercup.”

Frazier gave a small snort. “Higher than either of us will ever be,” he muttered.

Wade was staring at the three, but mostly Banister. He didn’t say anything.

Faust looked up at him. Their cheeks were wet. “Thank you, daddy,” they sniffed. “Thank you.”

He managed a smile. “Anything for you, pumpkin.”

Frazier hooked an arm around Wade’s. “Ye all ‘ave yer cry-fest, I need some time ta recover from every inch of me body bein’ punched.”

“Should’ve let us up.” Faust’s sly smile was already quivering. “Have fun.”

Frazier had to yank Wade out of the room before shutting the door. “Ye alrigh'?” he asked. “Ye looked spaced ou'.”

“I watched Banister die less than ten minutes ago. Forgive me if I’m not all here yet,” Wade said dryly.

A pause. Then Frazier was grinning. “Ye care about him,” he said, cheeky.

_"I knew it was obvious!"_

“I care about making my daughter happy.” The grizzled bear was practically dragging Frazier down the hallway. “What did you say about needing recovery time?”

“Ye care about that little rat and ye know it.” The honey eye was bright and playful. “Finally warmin’ up ta ‘im, eh?”

“I am not warming up to him whatsoever.” Wade dragged him into their room, shutting the door behind him. “I’m tired, you got punched by Faust; we both need to lay down and not talk about it.”

The grizzled fox huffed. “Sure thin’, but I know tha’ ye’re goin’ ta be a lot nicer ta him from now on.”

“Frazier.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop.” A pause. “Are ye really alright? Ye did see ‘im die, and ye haven’ worked like tha’ in years. Ye thin’ he’s goin’ ta be alright?”

Wade was already in bed. Tiredness was visible on his face, his ears low. “I’m fine, just tired. Now get over here, because I really do need my husband right now.”

_"I want your husband, too. And Foxy. I hope that was obvious."_

_"Freddy, please."_

Frazier’s tail wagged. “Jus’ checkin’ abou’ ‘im before we clock out fer a good few hours. Comin’ over!”

Hours later, when Frazier was sated enough of his aches to sleep and the soft crying from the other room quieted into a stop, Freddy softly snoring inside of him, Wade hated what he thought next.

_“Little rascal, I really do.”_

**Author's Note:**

> I already have the sequel ready!


End file.
